With the new edition and the new FAQ there are a few changes
that we need to deal with when building or adjusting Drop Pod lists into the
new edition. Yes, the changes do upset what we normally look at when designing Defensive
Drop Pod lists. Yes, we do have to deal with some problems. No, it is not difficult.
Probably the most distinct change that we face has been the
new Drop Pod Assault rules. No longer can we deny kill points to our opponent
for several turns; now we have boots on the ground at the beginning of turn
one. However, this is overall a positive change as there are general advantages
to lists taking one or more Drop Pods as supplemental units (no fear of waiting
until turn five for one), and it is not the most harm the DDP lists will suffer
from the changes, not even close.
That honor goes to the BRB and the general reserve changes.
Not counting units that have to go in reserve, we can only reserve half of our
units. With required HQ choices, that provides a particular problem, as the
Emperor’s Champion is one and the Warlord is two, we will have to deploy one of
them as normal at least. Having to leave a scant few units on the field to get
immediately killed by our opponent?
yay…
But there is one final major change to the Reserve rules
that should be mentioned. The obvious 3+ reserve rolls on turns 2 and 3,
automatic turn 4. This is basically the same as the new Drop Pod Assault rules
in that we get our pods down sooner, so we have to come to grips with the fact
that we need to be more killy and less denial, and that means almost a total
refocus in our design philosophy from last edition.
But never fear for not all of these changes are for the
worse. Some of them will actually benefit us while others will simply need to
be adapted to (in a new edition? *gasp*)
and I am sure that the DDP list will stay a strong list when we get through
this time of change.
First off, the new Drop Pod Assault Rules are an awesome
change. Not in every way, but in one particular way: you choose which half
comes down on turn 1. With our new focus on a killing list instead of a denial
list, this is absolutely superb. Can
you imagine how much more control you now have? With a Drop Pod list at that!
Before, controlling the battlefield was one of the greatest strengths of the
list archetype, and now we are so much better at it. That single change may
alone counteract the downsides of coming onto the field sooner, vehicles
exploding more easily, and being forced to have units on the field at first.
Do you think I’m exaggerating? Take Marshal Learoth’s DDP
list from 5th edition. One Crusader Squad and all of his distraction units can come down. Or, if he wants to keep
some distraction units for later need, he can keep any or all of them back and
just drop down more Crusader Squads. Hell, he could change things up each time
and customize which units come down depending on what he’s facing and how they
are deployed.
An assault-based army? Crusader Squads scattered around in
the back and maybe a Command Squad or two to snipe the more dangerous vehicles;
when his opponent has spread out some to deal with where everything is, drop
the Dreadnoughts to kill things piece-meal.
A parking lot? Dreadnoughts and Command Squads right next to
them to start the destruction, leaving most of the Scoring units safely in
reserve until the most threatening guns are dealt with.
A Mobile Mechanized army? Dreadnoughts and Command Squads to
kill the lead vehicles and hem them in with vehicle hulls, killing much of
their effectiveness before your Scoring units arrive.
Infantry Horde? Make sure that you get your Dreadnoughts in
first to funnel them and then bring in your Command Squads later to target
those funnel points.
Deep Striking Land Raiders? Keep the Command Squads in
reserve to answer the threat.
And let’s be clear: you
could never do this on purpose before! Sure, you would likely get a mostly
even split, but you were forced to use what you got; now you can customize. To
further emphasize this (because it needs it), you can’t even do this with
normal lists. Yes, now Drop Pod lists are better able to respond to whatever
enemy you face than any other list. (Take that, supposed codex creep!)
But those are only examples from Marshal Learoth’s DDP list,
which needed to focus on having lots of similar units to ensure that you would
get what you needed. Since we know that we will get what we need anyway, a
number of options open up to us.
Crusader Squads don’t have to be all equipped the same
anymore. You could give some anti-vehicle weapons and some anti-infantry
weapons. You could decide that you generally want two of them to land in the
back and grab objectives; give them Lascannons or Missile Launchers. You may
decide that you want to have only one Command Squad with Meltaguns and one with
Plasma Guns because you only expect to need to immediately deal with a single
heavy vehicle at a time. You may even have a mix of Assault Cannons and Multi-Meltas
on your Dreadnoughts for the same reason. Or you may decide to take Terminators
instead of Dreadnoughts and just put Teleport Homers on your
Castellans (so you
won’t scatter because Terminators can no longer take Drop Pods).
And we still function much like a Kill-Point denial list.
The tactics don’t fundamentally change, as you still need distraction units and
they still function the same. These are still Defensive Drop Pod lists, and
they still function in much the same way as long as you adapt them to be now better.
However, not all is well the new edition. As I have said
before, anti-infantry firepower will be more prevalent due to the nerf to
vehicles. I still believe that this is 100% true based on my few 6th
edition games and the same reasoning I had before, and we will need to take
steps to deal with it, namely having more bodies. I’m not a huge fan of max-bodies,
but frankly 5-man Crusader Squads just aren’t what they used to be (lol) and
Drop Pods don’t protect as well as they used to. So I think that it will be
necessary to have at least close to a full accompaniment of Neophytes, bringing
up the cost of each Crusader Squad by 50 points (40 for the one with the
Emperor’s Champion in it) and 64 for the Command Squads.
Unfortunately, that means that we would need to drop two-to-three
Crusader Squads from typical DDP lists, and that just isn’t a very good idea
(and does not conform to my 4+ Crusader Squads requirement for the next few
list articles that I have). So let’s compromise what we need with what we can
have to keep us at the correct number of points.
Converting my own Drop Pod list shouldn’t be too difficult,
that would be my tournament goal list which will be updated once this article
is posted, so here is the original for reference:
Emperor’s Champion: Vow (Abhor the Witch…),
-110
Marshal: Bolter, Krak Grenades; Command Squad
(5): Bolters, 2 Meltaguns, Apothecary; Drop Pod; -228
Castellan: Bolter, Meltabombs; Command Squad
(5): Bolters, 2 Meltaguns, Apothecary; Drop Pod; -216
Dreadnought: Multi-Melta, DCCW, Heavy Flamer,
Extra Armor; Drop Pod; -160
Dreadnought: Multi-Melta, DCCW, Heavy Flamer,
Extra Armor; Drop Pod; -160
Dreadnought: Multi-Melta, DCCW, Heavy Flamer,
Extra Armor; Drop Pod; -160
Crusader Squad (5): Bolters, Multi-Melta,
Plasma Gun; Drop Pod; -126
Crusader Squad (5): Bolters, Multi-Melta,
Plasma Gun; Drop Pod; -126
Crusader Squad (5): Bolters, Multi-Melta,
Plasma Gun; Drop Pod; -126
Crusader Squad (5): Bolters, Multi-Melta,
Plasma Gun; Drop Pod; -126
Crusader Squad (5): Bolters, Multi-Melta,
Plasma Gun; Drop Pod; -126
Crusader Squad (5): Bolters, Multi-Melta,
Plasma Gun; Drop Pod; -126
Land Speeder: Typhoon Missile Launcher, Heavy
Bolter, -70
Land Speeder: Typhoon Missile Launcher, Heavy
Bolter, -70
Land Speeder: Typhoon Missile Launcher, Heavy
Bolter, -70
Total:-2,000
So what are we going to do? Why, we’re
going to make the Dreadnoughts dedicated to anti-infantry and anti-light mech
while we trim down the Marshal and Castellan to have no equipment to save
points. Then we will see how large the Squads are if we drop one Crusader Squad
and if we drop two.
Changing the Dreadnoughts to have
Assault Cannons instead of Multi-Meltas gives us 30 points, and we get 24
points shaved off of the Commanders. Dropping one Crusader Squad gives us 180
points to spend on extra bodies. (I like the Multi-Melta/Plasma Gun combination
for the Crusader Squads, so we’re keeping that for now.) One extra body for
every remaining squad would be two Initiates and five Neophytes, which would
cost 82 points. We can do that twice for 164 points and get another Initiate
somewhere.
That’s pretty good, but what if we
dropped another Crusader Squad? That would instead give us 306 points to spend
on extra bodies and +1 for every remaining squad would only cost 72 points. Do
that four times and we have 18 points left (Initiate and Krak Grenades on a
Castellan). That would put us at nearly full in every squad.
But a question arises. A good rule of
thumb is to spend about 40% of your points on Troops, as in the past that has seemed
to give us enough without having spent too much on the less deadly units in
most circumstances. Granted, that was last edition, but as far as I can tell,
40% will still be a good amount for Troops; so let’s consider that.
With the original list, 38% of the
points were spent on Troops. Dropping one Crusader Squad puts it at 37%, and
dropping two puts it at only 34%. Obviously, this could be amended by dropping
a few of the Initiates out of the Command Squads in favor of putting them in
the Crusader Squads and I might be inclined to do that, except that only
dropping one Crusader Squad will leave me with 7 man squads which should be
sufficient and less vulnerable to AP 4 and Blasts/Templates.
By dropping only one Crusader Squad I
also end up with a loose sixteen points which I could use for either an
Initiate but I think instead I will give my Warlord a Storm Shield and a Bolter
to make him more durable. But there is another change we can make. Switch two
of the Crusader Squads to have Missile Launchers instead of Multi-Meltas and we
can put them in the back to guard objectives and provide some fire-support
(again, either on turn one or sometime later, depending on what I need). It’s
tempting to exchange those Missile Launchers and Plasma Guns for Lascannons,
but I think we have enough low-AP fire at closer ranges already, so I’ll keep
those Frag Missiles available.
And here is what the final list looks
like:
Emperor’s Champion: Vow (Abhor the Witch…),
-110
Castellan (Warlord): Bolter, Storm Shield;
Command Squad (7): Bolters, 2 Meltaguns, Apothecary; Drop Pod; -258
Castellan; Command Squad (7): Bolters, 2
Meltaguns, Apothecary; Drop Pod; -242
Dreadnought: Assault Cannon, DCCW, Heavy
Flamer, Extra Armor; Drop Pod; -150
Dreadnought: Assault Cannon, DCCW, Heavy
Flamer, Extra Armor; Drop Pod; -150
Dreadnought: Assault Cannon, DCCW, Heavy Flamer,
Extra Armor; Drop Pod; -150
Crusader Squad (5/2): Bolters, Shotguns,
Multi-Melta, Plasma Gun; Drop Pod; -146
Crusader Squad (5/2): Bolters, Shotguns,
Multi-Melta, Plasma Gun; Drop Pod; -146
Crusader Squad (5/2): Bolters, Shotguns,
Multi-Melta, Plasma Gun; Drop Pod; -146
Crusader Squad (5/2): Bolters, Shotguns, Missile
Launcher, Plasma Gun; Drop Pod; -146
Crusader Squad (5/2): Bolters, Shotguns,
Missile Launcher, Plasma Gun; Drop Pod; -146
Land Speeder: Typhoon Missile Launcher, Heavy
Bolter, -70
Land Speeder: Typhoon Missile Launcher, Heavy
Bolter, -70
Land Speeder: Typhoon Missile Launcher, Heavy
Bolter, -70
Total:-2,000
The Typhoons will start on the board so that I
can have my Emperor’s Champion in a Crusader Squad. I think that the Castellans
count as having a Drop Pod (because they are leading their Command Squads), so
that will let me reserve one of the Typhoons if there aren’t enough places to
hide them on the board.
It’s that easy.
